Short-seller Hindenburg Research has decided to end operations, saying it has finished its task of “exposing Ponzi schemes”
US investment firm Hindenburg Research, known for its reports that resulted in billions of dollars being wiped off the market value of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and targeted its founder, Gautam Adani, over the past two years, has decided to end operations.
The abrupt shutdown – announced just days before President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office – has sparked widespread speculation about the motives behind the group’s operations.
In a statement published on the company’s website, founder Nathan Anderson said: “The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today.”
Founded in 2017 by Anderson, the firm gained notoriety for its hard-hitting exposes on major companies, including Lordstown Motors Corp (US), Kandi (China), Clover Health (US) and Tecnoglass (Colombia).
In 2023 it made global headlines by accusing Adani Group, one of largest conglomerates in India, of stock market manipulation. Later that year, similar allegations were raised by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international platform known for its work on the ‘Panama papers’ and ‘Pandora papers’.
Building on Hindenburg’s report, OCCRP claimed that millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded shares via “opaque” Mauritius funds linked to business partners of the Adani family. Details of this report first appeared in the Financial Times and The Guardian.
The Adani Group has denied all the allegations, linking them to “Soros-funded interests,” given that OCCRP lists foundations of the American investor-turned-philanthropist George Soros among its donors. It is also backed by the US State Department, the UK Foreign Office, and various global funds.
While lauded by some for exposing corporate fraud, Hindenburg’s reliance on short-selling and sensationalized reports has drawn accusations of destabilizing markets, especially in emerging economies such as India. Hindenberg’s report led to $150 billion being wiped off the group’s market value. It also created a political storm in India, with opposition parties demanding an investigation into Adani’s alleged links to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Anderson has not provided any specific reasons for closing the business. However, the timing of the decision – just ahead of the return of a pro-business Trump administration – has drawn scrutiny from market watchers in India and globally. Some observers have linked the move to anticipated changes in US regulatory oversight, while others questioned the “line between market research and manipulation by short sellers.”
“The line between market research & manipulation by short sellers is the actual concern,” says Port Shelter Investment’s Richard Harris on #Hindenburg shutdown.
Last year, Hindenburg extended its attack on Adani Group to Indian officials, alleging that the head of country’s stock exchange regulator was involved in trading its shares, thus preventing a proper investigation into supposed financial irregularities by Adani. Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has denied the claims.
Several months later, US prosecutors indicted Gautam Adani and several top managers of his group for allegedly paying $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure “lucrative” solar power contracts. The US indictment has dealt another financial and reputational blow to the group. Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless.”
